Bypass fitting



Feb. 27, 1940. 0, p, ow 2,191,702

BYPASS FITTING Filed Oct. 15, 1938 Wafer Q firafa :a

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\"1 How van 1 Patented Feb. 27, 1940 BYPASS FITTING Olney P. Yowell, Whittier, Calif., assignor to 0. P. Yowell Service of California Company, a corporation Application October 15, 1938, Serial No. 235,210

Claims.

This invention relates generally to oil well tools and more particularly to oil well tools having packing members adapted to engage the interior of a well casing, the invention being designed for use in combination with such tools.

The invention is particularly adaptable for use in combination with oil well tools known as I cementing tools and tools known as perforation washers, Both cementing tools and perforation :washers-= are ordinarily equipped with packing ch surround a central conduitmemadapted to ;enga'ge,, the inner wall of may be lowered or raised'i'n the casing without moving the entire body of fluid before it or damaging the packing members. A short perforated section of pipe located above the tool is often used to eifect a bypass. While the perforated pipe section permits of bypassing the fluid to opposite sides of the packing members during raising and lowering of the tool in the hole, it has the disadvantage that there is no practical way of preventing the member from acting as a bypass means when this is desirable.

Thus, with a perforated section of tubing above the packing members it is impossible to spot a chemical, oil or cement at the lower end of the tool for the reason that the material bypasses through the perforated pipe section above the tool. It is also often desirable to be able to establish circulation of fluid down through the tool and this is of fiiurse impracticable with this type of bypass.

Anothefitype of bypass'means used comprises a tube which is mounted interiorly of the main tubing member carrying the packing members.

to spot a liquid at the bottom of the tool or force liquid from the bottom of the tool through the perforations in the casings in the region thereof for the reason that the pumped liquid is free to bvpass up the bypass tube to a point above the uppermost packers.

Therefore, it is an objectof this invention to provide a simple, efficient and improved device well. asi'ng.- In lowering or raising such a wellsome provisiongm'ust be made for" 1h passingthe fluid ordinarilyzpresent in the well j past the packing membersj'in' order that the tool for use in combination with a perforation washer or a cementing tool including a tubular section having packing members thereon and mounted at the lower end of a string of pipe which is effective as a bypass means and which may also be readily adjusted to prevent bypassing of fluid from the interior of the tubing to the exterior thereof.

It is also an object of this invention to pro Wide a bypass fitting which may be installed in a conduit or string of pipe above the tool having packlng members thereon adaptable to engage the inner walls of a well casing, to serve as a bypass means for the well fluid when the tool is lowered or raised in the hole.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a bypass fitting which is adapted to receive a member freely dropped in the tubing at the surface of the ground for the purpose of sealing off the bypass means and preventing the liquid interiorly of the bypass fitting from escaping through the bypass means to a point exteriorly of the fitting, but not preventing the flow of liquid from a point exteriorly of the fitting to the interior of the fitting through the bypassmeans.

These and other-Objects will be apparent from the drawing and the following description thereof. Referring to the drawing which is for illustrative purposes only;

Fig. 1- is a fragmentary sectional elevation of an oil well bore hole showing a cementing tool. in place therein and showing the bypass fitting of this invention in combination therewith;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the bypass fitting of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view on line 33 of Fig. 2.

More particularly describing the invention, reference numeral ll generally indicates a formation in which there is shown a bore hole I! lined with perforated casing l3. In the casing is shown a cementing tool generally indicated by reference numeral II. The upper end of this tool is connected to a string of pipe, or tubing I5 whichleads to the surface of the ground and acts Connected in the tubing ii at a point above a which has been drilled through prior to lowering the cementingtool in the well is also shown. The bridges are for the. purpose of preventing migration of cement beyond the water strata to be cemented ofl.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3 for details in the construction of the bypass fitting l6 of this invention, reference numeral 30 designates a hollow ended member internally threaded at each end at 3| and 32 respectively. Between the hollow ends of the fitting is a central bridging portion generally indicated by reference numeral 33;

'This bridge portion is provided at its upper end with an outwardly flared shoulder 34 and is also provided with an open portion 35. Transversely cutting the bridge portion at substantially a 45 angle is a bore 36 which forms the bypass passageway. This bore is enlarged at its outer end at 31 to accommodate a valve seat insert 38. A ball 39 is provided which, when dropped in the tubing, will seat on the insert 38 and thereby act as an inwardly opening check valve when in position. The bridge portion 33 is also provided with a plurality of longitudinally disposed openings 40 which are provided for the purpose of establishing communication through the fitting.

With this construction when the bypass fitting I6 is mounted in the tubing above the tool H, or a similar tool, the tool may be readily lowered into the well by reason of the fact that the fluid located below the lowermost packer 24 will be forced into the conduit i8 and upwardly in that conduit through the passageways 40 in the fitting l6, and downwardly and outwardly through passage 36. In this manner the fitting i6 acts as a bypass means for bypassing fluid past the packing members 22, 23 and 24. When the tool is being lowered in the well, ball 39 is retained at the surface of the ground and is not used in connection with the fltting.

After the tool is in place at the desired point in the well, it is possible to establish circulation" downwardly through the tubing l5 and downwardly through the fitting l6 so as to cause the fluid to emerge through the perforations 20 at the lower end of the tool by first dropping the ball 29 into the string of pipe so as to prevent the bypassing of the fluid downwardly and outwardly through the passage 36. Thus it is possible to "spot" a chemical or other substance at the bottom of the tool without having any of the substance escape from the conduit means above the tool in the region of the bypass means as would be the case where the ordinary perforated section of pipe is used as a bypass means. It is also true that any liquid forced out through the holes 20 will not have a chance to migrate or bypass to a point above the uppermost packer as would be the ,case if a bypass tube were used communicating with the exterior of the tool at points above the uppermost ermost packer.

When it is desired to remove the tool from the hole,.thismay readily be done inasmuch as the fluid externally of the tool and above the packer packer and below the low- 22 is free to be bypassed downwardly through the interior of conduit l8 inasmuch as the fluid is free to enter the bypass fitting I 6 through passage 36; It should be noted in this connection that the ball closure member 39 will not prevent 5 bypassing of fluid from a point exterior of the fitting to the interior thereof since such a passage of fluid tends to unseat the ball valve.

As was pointed out above, the bypass fltting is designed for use in connection with perforation 10' washers and certain of these washers having packing members disposed both upwardly and downwardly. With toolshaving upturned pack-, ing members, the bypass feature of this inven-' tion as described in the preceding paragraph is particularly important, since the fluid cannot pass between the upturned packing members and the casing without damaging the packers.

It often becomes important to be able to establish circulation downwardly in the casing exteriorly of the tool to the bypass fitting l6 and this operation is possible with the bypass fitting of this invention. Thus, if in a cementing operation more cement is introduced into the tubing l5 than can be taken by the formation this will leave a column of cement above the bypass fitting in the tubing l5. If this cement is not immedi-- ately removed, it will harden and set in the tubing. To obviate this possibility, the cement may be forced out of the top of the tubing H by circulating fluid downwardly between the casing and 'the tubing and this fluid will enter the bypass through passage 36 and force the cement out ahead of it.

While the invention has been shown in con- 5,

nection with a particular type of cementing tool, the device of this invention is adaptable for use in combination with other types of tools. Although shown as a separate fitting, it is contemplated that the bypass means could be built v directly into an oil well tool as an integral part thereof. It is also true that although a particular design of bypass fitting has been shown, it is possible to change this'design somewhat without departing from the scope of the invention and it is intended to cover such changes as come within the scope of the claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. For use in a well having a casing therein,

an open string of pipe and a packer on said pipeoo engaging said casing; bypass means at a point above the packer in said pipe, said bypass means having a passageway from the interior of said string of pipe to the exterior thereof; and closure means for said passageway, dropable through said pipe.

2. For use in a well having a casing therein, an open string of pipe, a tool at the lower end of said string of pipe; a packer on said tool engaging the casing; bypass means in said tool, said bymy pass means having a passageway at a point above the packer from the interior of said tool to the exteriorthereof; and closure means for said passageway dropable through said pipe.

3. In an oil well tool adapted to be mounted on the end of a string of pipe for use in a well having a casing therein and a conduit means having a casing engaging packing member therein; a bridging portion in said conduit means above said packing member, said bridging portion having an opening therein to permit passage of fluid therethrough and having a bypass p'ort extending downwardly and outwardly therein providing communication between the upper end of said bridging portion and the exterior of said tubular 76 means; said bypass port being adapted to receive a closure member dropped in the upper end or the string 01' pipe as a tree body to prevent bypass of fluid from the interior of said tubular means to the exterior thereof.

.4. For use as described, a bypass fitting comprising: a hollow ended member having a passageway establishing communication between the ends thereof, said member having a downwardly and outwardly extending bypass port communicating with the exterior thereof, said memberhaving a bridging portion in the region of the inner end of said bypass port. said bridging portion having guide faces for directing an ob-. ject to the inner end of said bypass port, said bypass port being adapted to receive a closure member dropped into said fitting to prevent bypass of fluid from the interior of said member to the exterior thereof.

5. For use in combination with a string of pipe and an oil well tool having packing members mounted on a conduit means, a bypass fitting comprising: a member having hollow end portions, said member having a bridge portion separating the hollow end portions, said bridge portion having a passageway establishing communication between the hollow end. portions and.

having a downwardly and outwardly extending bypass port communicating with the upper hollow end portion and exteriorly of the member, said bypass port being adapted to receive a closure member dropped in the upper end of the string of pipe as a free body to prevent the bypass of fluid from the interior of said member to the exterior thereof.

OLNEY P. YOWELL. 

